Bill Gates doesn't pretend he lives in an egalitarian(主张平等的) household. When it comes to parenting his three children, the billionaire Microsoft giant readily admits his wife Melinda has done more than her share of the work raising the kids.
"My wife does 80%," Gates told a crowd of Harvard students last Thursday. Gates spent two years there taking math and computer science courses as a pre﹣law student, but never finished up his degree. "Myeldest graduates from Stanford in June, so I'm optimistic she won't fall into my footsteps," Gates joked.
1. They followed a 1970s "Love and Logic" parenting model. The core idea of the philosophy is centered on the idea of exerting emotional control, essentially minimizing emotional reactions like shouting or scolding kids.2. Gates admits he and his wife haven't been perfect at carrying out the approach.
"Can you get rid of the emotion? You can't totally do it," he said.
Aside from ruling in hot﹣blooded parent tempers, the love and logic model also stresses the importance of not leaning into rewards for kids, but instead demonstrating unconditional love and admiring kids for who they are, not what they do (or don't) achieve, like a poor test score.
"Many highly successful people struggled with grades as children," Fay wrote on his site. "3."
The model is a bit like the ideal method, in that it pushes parents to focus on asking questions of their kids and getting them to think about how to solve their own problems, instead of feeding them answers.
4.. However, he knew he wanted to do things differently with his own kids.
It wasn't the only way he set boundaries for his children while they were growing up. None of his kids owned a cell phone until they were 14 years old. And they will each get about ﹩10 million of their parents fortune as inheritance,a mere fraction of the giant's roughly ﹩90 billion net worth. "We want to strike a balance where they have the freedom to do anything, but not a lot of money showered on them so they could go out and do nothing," Gates once told TED.
What is the single most effective way to reduce greenhouse﹣gas emissions? Go vegetarian? Replant the Amazon? Cycle to work? None of the above. The answer is: make air﹣conditioners radically better. On one calculation, replacing refrigerants(制冷剂) that damage the atmosphere would reduce total greenhouse gases by the equivalent of 90bn tons of CO2 by 2050. Making the units more energy﹣efficient could double that.
Air﹣conditioning is one of the world's great overlooked industries. Automobiles and air﹣conditioners were invented at roughly the same time, and both have had a huge impact on where people live and work.
Unlike cars, though, air﹣conditioners have drawn little criticism for their social impact, emissions or energy efficiency. Most hot countries do not have rules to govern their energy use.
Yet air﹣conditioning has done quite a lot of things to benefit humankind. It has transformed productivity in the tropics and helped turn southern China into the workshop of the world. In Europe,its spread has pushed down heat﹣related deaths ten times less than what it was in 2003, when around 70,000 people, most of them elderly, died in a heatwave. For children, air﹣conditioned classrooms and dormitories are associated with better grades at school.
Environmentalists who call air﹣conditioning "a luxury we cannot afford" have half a point, however.
In the next ten years, as many air﹣conditioners will be installed around the world as were put in between 1902(when air﹣conditioning was invented)and 2005. Until energy can be produced without carbon emissions, these extra machines will warm the world. At the moment, therefore, air﹣conditioners create a vicious cycle. The more the Earth warms, the more people need them. But the more there are, the warmer the world will be.
Cutting the impact of cooling requires three things(beyond turning up the thermostat(温度调节器)to make rooms less Arctic). First, air﹣conditioners must become much more efficient. The most energy﹣efficient models on the market today consume only about one﹣third as much electricity as average ones.
Minimum energy﹣performance standards need to be raised,or introduced in countries that lack them altogether, to push the average unit's performance closer to the standard of the best.
Next,manufactures should stop using damaging refrigerants.One category of these,hydrofluorocarbons, is over 1,000 times worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. An international deal to phase out these pollutants, called the Kigali amendment, will come into force in 2019. Foot﹣draggers should approve and implement it;America is one country that has not done so.
Last, more could be done to design offices, malls and even cities so they do not need as many air﹣ conditioners in the first place. More buildings should be built with overhanging roofs or balconies for shade,or with natural air﹣circulation. Simply painting roofs white can help keep temperatures down.
Better machines are necessary. But cooling as an overall system needs to be improved if air﹣conditioners is to fulfill its promise to make people healthier,wealthier and wiser, without too high an environmental cost. Providing indoor shelters of air﹣conditioned comfort need not come at the expense of an overheating world.
1.Why does the author think air﹣conditioning is an overlooked industry?
A. Because many hot countries haven't put the energy﹣controlling rules into force.
B. Because it has caused the same impact on people's life and work as automobiles have.
C. Because it has brought great economic, physical, and educational benefits to humans.
D. Because it doesn't get the due criticism for its environmental impact as automobiles do.
2.What can we learn from Paragraph 4?
A. The price of air﹣conditioning will go up due to the large demand for it.
B. A high environmental cost will come along with the air﹣conditioning service.
C. Environmentalists are expecting extra machines which can warm the world.
D. Governments partially agree that air﹣conditioning is a luxury we cannot afford.
3.With regard to the measures to cut the impact of cooling, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Manufacturers should only stop using hydrofluorocarbons.
B. People should avoid turning up the air﹣conditioners to have cool rooms on hot days.
C. People should adopt more environmentally﹣friendly materials when designing buildings.
D. Governments should give a green light to the agreement on eliminating the pollutants.
4.The author writes this passage to .
A. arouse people's attention to the global warming
B. appeal for the global joint efforts to combat global warming
C. give credit to air﹣conditioning for its great contributions to humans
D. offer a new perspective on how to reduce greenhouse gases emissions
Making these easy tasks part of your morning schedule will improve your nutrition, energy, and mood today﹣and beyond.
6:00 a.m.
STRETCH IN BED
Try this even before you open your eyes. Lift one arm and begin by stretching each finger, then your hand, then your wrist, and then your whole arm. Move on to the other arm. Then stretch your toes, feet,ankles, and legs. Finally, end with a neck and back stretch that propels you out of bed. You've just limbered up your muscles and joints and enhanced blood flow throughout your body, providing a shot of oxygen to all your tissues. Take up the entire length of the bed when you stretch. According to Harvard University psychologist Amy Cuddy, this display of power is typical of a bold person, making you feel more confident all day long.
7:00 a.m.
EXERCISE A BIT﹣ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
Working out before you eat, researchers say, encourages your body to burn more fat for energy rather than relying on carbohydrates from food. In a Journal of Physiology study, participants who exercised after breakfast still gained weight (as did a control group who didn't exercise), but those who exercised on an empty stomach did not. Moreover, research from the University of Vermont shows that the mood﹣enhancing benefits of a 20﹣minute workout can last for 12 hours, a boost you'll want to enjoy all day long.
BREAK YOUR FAST TWICE
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so why not have two? A study published in the journal Pediatric Obesity tracked the weight and breakfast﹣eating patterns of 584 students over two years. They found that frequent breakfast skippers showed increased odds of becoming overweight or obese compared with those who ate two breakfasts (one at home and one at school). The sensible takeaway: If you eat more in the morning, you'll be less likely to snack at night, when it's harder to burn off calories.
8:00 a.m.
SEEK OUT GOOD NEWS
In a 2015 study, researchers asked one group of participants to watch just three minutes of positive,solutions﹣focused news (such as a video of a 70﹣year﹣old man who got his graduation certificate after failing the test dozens of times). These participants were 27 percent more likely to report a few hours later that their day had been "happy" than people who watched negative news in the morning. Study author Gielan also cited substantial evidence that negative moods affect workplace performance.
Voila! You've improved your state of mind, your health, and your productivity﹣all before the weekday has even begun. Now you're ready to conquer your to﹣do list for today and every day.
1.The article is written to .
A. give professional guidance on keeping fit
B. reveal some research results about health
C. put forward several suggestions for morning routines
D. offer some tips on how to improve workplace performance
2.It is suggested that you should occupy the entire bed when you stretch because it especially .
A. increases your confidence
B. helps you out of bed easily
C. stimulates your blood circulation
D. has an effect on your overall health
3.Who is least likely to gain weight according to the article?
A. Those who skip breakfasts frequently.
B. Those who do morning stretching in bed.
C. Those who have double breakfasts in the morning.
D. Those who have their breakfast before morning exercise.
The summer I turned 16, my father gave me his ‘69 Chevy Malibu convertible(敞篷车). Beautifully repainted with V﹣8 engine﹣it was a gift wasted on me at that age. What did I know about classic cars? The important thing was that Hannah and I could drive around Tucson with the top down.
Hannah was my best friend, a year younger but much taller, almost five foot ten. "Hannah's going to be something," my mother always said. And sure enough, that summer she signed with a modeling agency.
She was already doing catalog and runway work.
A month after my birthday, Hannah and I went to the movies. On the way home, we stopped at the McDonald's drive﹣through, putting the fries on the seat between us to share. "Let's ride around awhile," I said. It was a clear night, oven﹣warm, full moon cast low over the desert. Taking a curve too fast, I hit a patch of dirt and slid from side to side. I then cut through a neighbor's landscape wall and drove into a full﹣grown palm. The front wheels came to rest halfway up the tree trunk. French fries on the floor, the dash,and my lap. An impossible amount of blood on Hannah's face, pieces of skin hanging into her eyes. They took us in separate ambulances. In the emergency room, my parents spoke quietly: Best plastic surgeon in the city. End of her modeling career.
We'd been wearing leg belts, but the car didn't have shoulder bands. I'd damaged my cheekbone on the wheel; Hannah's forehead had split wide open on the dash. What would I say to her? When her mother,Sharon, came into my hospital room, I started to cry, preparing myself for her anger. She sat beside me and took my hand. "I hit my best friend's car in the rear when I was your age," she said. "I wrecked her car and mine." "I'm so sorry," I said."You're both alive," she said. "The rest is windowdressing." I started to protest, and Sharon stopped me. "I forgive you. Hannah will too."
Sharon's forgiveness allowed Hannah and me to get back in the car together that summer, to stay friends throughout high school and college, to be in each other's weddings, and to watch my four teenagers get along with her three younger children. I think of her gift of forgiveness every time I'm tempted to blame someone in a secret for something recognized as wrong. And whenever I see Hannah, the scars are so faded that no one else would notice,but in the sunlight I can still see the faint shimmer(微光)just below her hairline﹣for me, a sign of grace.
1.Which of the following about Hannah is TRUE according to the passage?
A. She was not as badly injured as the author.
B. She never really forgave me though her mother did.
C. She learned the gift of forgiveness through the accident.
D. She could have been a model if she hadn't experienced the accident.
2.In paragraph 4, "window dressing" is closest in meaning to " ".
A. insignificant
B. colorful
C. undetermined
D. hopeful
3.According to the passage, Sharon comforted the author by .
A. showing her own scar
B. mentioning her own story
C. visiting the author in person
D. teaching the author a personal lesson
4.Which of the following might be the best title of the article?
A. A Graceful Friend
B. A Lasting Friendship
C. A Lucky Car Accident
D. The Gift of Forgiveness
Vast parts of Earth should be left wild
To avoid mass extinctions of plants and animals, governments should protect a third of the oceans and land by 2030 and half by 2050, with a focus on areas of high biodiversity. So say leading biologists in an editorial in the journal Science.
This isn't just about saving biodiverse areas, says Jonathan Baillie of the National Geographic Society,one of the authors. It is also about saving ourselves by protecting_____ natural systems, or ecosystems,and their benefits to us, known as ecosystem services. "We are learning that the large areas that remain are important for providing services for all life. The forests, for example, are_____ for absorbing and storing carbon," says Baillie.
At present, just 3.6 per cent of the planet's oceans and 14.7 per cent of land is protected by law. At the 2010 Nagoya Conference of the Convention on Biological Diversity, governments agreed to protect 10 per cent of the oceans and 17 per cent of land by 2020.
But this isn't nearly enough, says Baillie. In the editorial, he and his coauthor, Ya﹣Ping Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, want governments to set much bigger_____ at the next major conference on biodiversity in 2020.
"We have to enormously_____ our ambition if we want to avoid an extinction crisis and if we want to maintain the ecosystem services that we_____ benefit from," says Baillie. "The trends are in a_____direction, it's just we have to move much faster."
It is hard to work out how much space is needed to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem_____, the pair say, because there is so much we don't know about life on Earth ﹣ like how many species there are.
_____, most estimates suggest that between 25 and 75 percent of high biodiversity regions or major ecosystems should be protected.Therefore,we, including governments,should be_____ when setting goals and strategies.
"There is no doubt that we need far more land and sea_____ for conserving and retaining nature,"says James Watson at the University of Queensland in Australia. "Targets like 50 per cent are in the right ball park when it comes to the minimal_____ of area needed to conserve biodiversity."
But Watson and others stress that which areas get protected is even more important than the overall percentage. "The key thing is to protect the right areas," says Jose Montoya of the Station for Theoretical and Experimental Ecology in Moulis, France. "If we_____ protect a proportion of the territory,governments will likely protect what's easy, and that's usually areas of_____ biodiversity and ecosystem service provision."
In fact, a third of the 3.6 percent of land that is already meant to be protected is actually being_____,Watson's team reported last month. So only_____ areas to be protected isn't enough.
1.A. stricter B. wider C. safer D. simpler
2.A. unique B. sufficient C. critical D. fit
3.A. examples B. values C. awards D. objectives
4.A. increase B. achieve C. lack D. frustrate
5.A. barely B. currently C. roughly D. thoroughly
6.A. opposite B. fixed C. complex D. positive
7.A. approaches B. management C. benefits D. degradation
8.A. Therefore B. Furthermore C. However D. Otherwise
9.A. concerned B. changeable C. firm D. cautious
10.A. deserted B. secured C. measured D. distributed
11.A. damage B. cost C. amount D. standard
12.A. completely B. merely C. virtually D. desperately
13.A. mass B. tropical C. marine D. low
14.A. exploited B. expanded C. restored D. discovered
15.A. developing B. covering C. declaring D. utilizing
The mama﹣bear instinct
Ms. Angela McQueen, a math and PE teacher at Mattoon High School, Illinois, has a routine when she's on lunch﹣monitoring duty. She1. (keep) an eye on the hundreds of students in her charge by walking laps(圈) around the school cafeteria.
In September 2017, McQueen, then 40, had hardly finished one lap2. a 14﹣year﹣old freshman standing not far from her pulled out a gun. She knew too well that he was going to start shooting.
School employees3.(train)on how to handle active shooters:Attack their ability4. (aim). So with the shooter's finger on the trigger, McQueen rushed to him.5.(grab) at his arm, she forced the gun into the air, but not6. he struck one student in the hand and chest and hurt another. As students ran for the exits, McQueen defeated the shooter with help from the school resource officer,7. disarmed the student and took him into imprisonment until police arrived minutes later. Afterward, McQueen went outside to give hugs and support to her shaken students.
"It's the mama﹣bear instinct," she told the local paper. "I don't have kids of my own, but these are still‘8.' kids."
9. McQueen, a story that has played out tragically at far too many schools across the country had a relatively happy ending. "If it hadn't been for her, the situation would have been a lot different," Police Chief Jeff Branson said at a news conference.
As one10. (impress) student told CBS News, "Mr. McQueen is our heroine."